Gone but not forgotten
by ValkyrieChic
Summary: After Chiro begins to have dreams of his childhood friends, guess who comes to town! Though they seem to mean well, the monkey team can't help but wonder if these 'friends' have a hidden agenda. Where were they this whole time and why have they come to Shuggazoom? And more importantly- were they here for Chiro!
1. Chapter 1

**Gone but not forgotten:**

-Ch 1

 _"I'm so going to beat you this time, Odin!"_

 _The dirty blond haired 11-year-old boy known as Odin turned his head. His emerald green eyes met the black haired, blue eyed boy's excited gaze as he raced to catch up with Odin._

 _Odin smirked playfully._

 _"Ha! Not this time, Chiro."_

 _Chiro began to pedal faster until he brought his bike side by side with Odin's, racing down the sidewalk to the designated finish line. The two boys could hear the shouts of the two smaller boys following after them on their own bikes._

 _"Hey, you think Chiro might win this time, Max?" One of them shouted, purposefully loud enough so Chiro could hear him._

 _"I don't know, just might be another win for Odin." Max responded. Chiro could hear a laugh in Max's response to Jaxon._

 _Chiro rolled his eyes with a grin on his face. Of course he'd win this time! He just knew he would. 'Odin is going to eat my dust." He thought cockily as he pushed himself to pedal even faster._

 _Odin chuckled, noticing Chiro start to pull ahead slightly._

 _The boys were all lucky there weren't any pedestrians on the sidewalk during this time. With how fiercely Chiro and Odin were racing to the finish line- which were the dumpsters at the end of the street- anyone unlucky enough to be walking at this time would surely have been plowed down._

 _As the two young friends found themselves nearing the finish line, Odin smiled and decided to put some pressure on Chiro. He looked over at Chiro with a mischievious look, earning a puzzled look from the young black haired boy in return._

 _Odin veered to the left, bringing his bike dangerously close to Chiro's before steering away once more._

 _"What the?" Chiro almost lost control of his bike as he steered it slightly to the left during Odin's threating approach. He almost steered right into a nearby lawn and would've been done for instantly had he not corrected himself._

 _As the two boys got parallel to each other once more, Chiro got an idea._

 _With the final destination fast approaching, Odin decided to try one more time. Swiftly, he brought his bike even closer than before to Chiro's to try and throw Chiro off once more._

 _But, to Odin's surprise, Chiro had applied his brakes as Odin moved his bike towards him. Chiro abruptly turned his bike towards Odin's back tire._

 _Looking back at the fast approaching tire near his own, Odin, with eyes widened, sped up slightly to not get hit. In his panic... he did not notice how close he had gotten to the nearest dumpster. Odin looked up in time to see the garbage can directly ahead._

 _With a yelp, Odin jumped off his bike. He landed in the grass as his bike collided with the dumpster._

 _Chiro spotted Odin's astounded gaze as he coasted past the dumpsters and came to a stop. With a victorious smile, Chiro turned to look back at Odin, who remained on the ground gawking back at him._

 _"Yes! Woo hoo- I can't believe I won!" Chiro cheered, throwing his hands up in the air._

 _Odin, who was still amazed, suddenly started laughing. Chiro raised an eyebrow._

 _"I can't believe you actually did that," Odin said with a laugh. "Think you may have been hanging with me for too long- you're acting more like me now," He said with a wink._

 _Chiro laughed as he made his way over and helped Odin to his feet._

 _"You okay?"_

 _"Yeah, I'm fine," Odin replied with a warm smile. "Great job, Chiro. That was an awesome race!"_

 _Chiro smiled sheepishly, "Even though I made you jump ship?"_

 _"I'd say that was our most exciting race yet," Odin said cheerfully. "We should have more stuff like that in other races."_

 _Chiro gave him a thumbs up with a wink. "You got it!"_

Chiro slowly opened his eyes and stretched as he pushed the covers off of him and sat up straight.

'Huh. Where did that dream come from?' He wondered, slightly surprised.

It'd been about a year since he'd had a single dream about his former best friends. How strange he should have another one again now all of a sudden when it's been four years since he's seen them. The now 15-year-old Chiro sleepily rubbed his eyes before getting out of bed.

Odin, Max and Jaxon... they were the best friends a boy could ask for while growing up. Chiro had gone through a lot with them after meeting them around the age of seven. Chiro spent a lot of his childhood hanging out around his house, alone, while his parents wouldn't come back home until late at night. He got curious and decided to check out more of his surrounding neighborhood one afternoon.

When he stumbled upon the park down the street, Chiro found three boys playing frisbee and asked to join. Turned out that Odin and Max were brothers who lived only a few houses down from Chiro's family. Jaxon, their cousin, was also living with them along with his mother. All it took was one time for the boys to all hang out and the next thing they knew, they hung out every day while Chiro's parents were gone.

When Chiro actually thought hard about it, those boys made him come out of his shell more and helped mold him into the more adventurous and outgoing person he became. Chiro reflected on many of the little adventures that they had all gone on.

Yet the memories brought up due to the dream only caused mixed emotions in Chiro. For no matter how much he missed his childhood friends, it wasn't likely that he'd ever get to see them again. They all up and moved out of town and, ultimately, out of Chiro's life.

Chiro had come to accept the fact that he probably wouldn't find them, and maybe that's just the way it was meant to be.

Besides, he had new friends now- friends who were more like family to him at this point. They were friends who he wouldn't trade for anyone in the world. Chiro has definitely gone through a lot with them as well and has a whole new outlook on life because of them. He didn't have time to dwell on the past when he had the here and now to focus on...


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey ya'll, sorry for the wait but I have been very busy lately getting a new job, not having enough energy/time in a day- you know the struggle :P Lol But I am back and ready for action so you can expect to get more updates on this story. I think it's gonna be a good one ;) Hope you guys liked the first chapter, I've got the good stuff coming up shortly. I'd also like to thank Chazno-02 for offering up some good ideas pertaining to Chiro's friends that will be added into the story very soon. So hope you enjoy what's going to be a rollercoaster-type of story haha. Without further adieu, I give you Ch. 2!**

 **Ch 2:**

They walked out of the training room feeling drained.

"Woo," Chiro exclaimed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Now that was intense! Nice job with the added obstacles, Nova."

Nova grinned. "Didn't I tell you this session was going to be a bit different? I had to start adding new stuff in sometime- couldn't make it too easy on you." She nudged Chiro with a wink.

"Eh, I still say it was too easy on him," Sprx said with a playful smirk before Chiro could respond.

Chiro chuckled. "Oh yeah? So what would you have done differently in there, Mr. Hot Shot?"

Nova laughed and Sprx groaned miserably, face palming himself.

Earlier that week, Sprx had had his own little solo training session with some upgraded gadgets that Otto had personally taken the time to add in. He felt the need to improve upon his fighting techniques to keep himself in top shape should they encounter another hostile situation- not that that was very likely these days.

Ever since they had defeated Skeleton King during the war of the living and the dead, the team has hardly seen any action in the city. Maybe an occasional monster here and there, but it was seldom. Not even Mandarin- the cowardly monkey that chose to run away rather than remain by his master's side when the end was nearing- has shown his face since the war ended.

Since the monkeys hadn't had any real need to fight or patrol, they spent a vast majority of their days lounging around and enjoying their time of relaxation- a luxury they had not had for a long time.

But on this particular day, Sprx had felt his battle techniques were a bit rusty, and he had also been pretty bored. So he took it upon himself to spend a few hours in the training room.

He ran all around, avoiding blasts sent to him by the machines and returning magnetic blasts of his own.

"Magna-Ball Blazer!"

"Magna-Field Shield!"

"Magna-Ball Beam Splitter!"

He shielded himself from attacks, leapt back and forth numerous times and returned fire throughout the session's ten phases.

Then it finally came to an end. Sprx stopped to catch his breath, then whooped excitedly.

"Yes! I did that! Me! I've still got it! Take that you cheap chunk of junk. You just got owned by-" Sprx paused to do something that he had been wanting to do for forever.

The previous week, the team had sat down to watch an old western movie that Otto had excitedly brought back home. For some reason, the easily entertained monkey had recently gotten more interested in western-styled things, and this included the gun-weilding, boot wearing cowboys seen in the collection of films he had bought.

In the last movie they'd watched, the cowboy confidently blew on his pistol after shooting the robber. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, Sprx secretly wanted to try that out after he had used his own weapons.

"You just got owned by-" He blew on his magnet and the electricty crackled as it went out. "Mr. Hot Shot!" He said the name without even thinking and posed in a sarcastically heroic manner. He didn't care, he got to try it out like he had wanted to. He was soaking in the glorious feeling of his accomplishment.

Suddenly, he was startled by laughter erupting from the next room.

As he curiously headed towards the door, the rest of the team walked in, trying to contain their laughter and snickering.

"Way to go, Mr. Hot Shot," Gibson said, raising an eyebrow while a small, smug grin formed. "You certainly showed that machine who's boss, didn't you?"

Sprx frowned. Of course they had all seen! He knew, too, that Gibson wouldn't let him live this down. In fact, none of the team seemed to let him forget about it.

Gibson constantly found ways to bring up the memory that Sprx now wished he could take back. But this wasn't new to him. Having been fighting with Gibson several times over various reasons, this was just another thing Gibson believed he could hold over Sprx.

But now Sprx just wanted all the joking to be over.

"Can we get Brainstrain to create a time machine and I can go back to undo that moment?" Sprx asked aloud, more to himself than to anyone.

"Aww, relax Sprx. It was time for us to have a good joke about you for once," Nova said teasingly. "You've called me 'man-hands', you started calling Otto 'The Clutz' recently for his little lab mishap-"

"AND you continuously call Gibson 'Brainstrain'," Chiro chimed in.

"Remind me to never forget it once we've got something on you, kid," Sprx replied, giving Chiro a side glance.

Chiro scoffed, shaking his head.

Their conversation died off as they entered the command room, where Gibson, Otto and Antauri seemed to be keeping themselves busy.

Antauri appeared to be in a deep meditative state in one corner of the room while Gibson and Otto were looking over Shuggazoom's scanners near the front of the room to make sure all was well in the city.

"How's everything looking today, Gibson?" Chiro asked as he, Nova and Sprx neared the two.

"It's all looking A-OK today, Chiro," Otto cheerfully said before Gibson could reply.

"Yes, the scanners along the city's perimeters are secured and everything seems to be running smoothly," Gibson said after clearing his throat. "Looks like another quiet day so far."

"Sweet!" Sprx said with a grin. "Guess it's another good old lazy day then."

He turned to Chiro. "You up for a round or two on that new game of yours?"

"After that insane training session? Count me in!" Chiro responded with a smile of his own. "You guys care to join us?"

"Sure, sounds fun!" Otto exclaimed.

"Thank you for the offer, Chiro, but I've actually got a few things in the lab that I want to look over for the time being," Gibson stated. Chiro nodded back.

Sprx turned to look at Nova, who smiled warmly back at him.

"I'm just going to go rest up in my room for a bit. You boys have fun!" She gave Sprx a quick kiss on the cheek before departing the room, Gibson following after.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey guys, whassup? I'm trying to keep these updates goin. Been a bit hectic lately but I've found the time. Hope you're all enjoyin the story so far and I've got a whole lot more comin up for ya. This chapter's got a lot more juicy information provided so I hope you like this one as well. Feel free to lemme know what you think! And now, on with the story!**_

 **Ch. 3:**

"Look, guys. There it is!" One boy's voice cried out excitedly. Two other boys came up beside him to observe.

"So that's Shuggazoom huh? Not much to it is there?" A second boy said, his voice sounding rather unenthusiastic.

"Man, we've been to much bigger places, and they were all way more interesting, too. Hope there's a good reason why we're going to this city." A third boy stated.

"You know there is, dude. We wouldn't be going here if it wasn't for something important," The second boy's voice was more solemn.

"This is going to be fun," The first boy said as he walked to the back of the small room.

All three of the young teenaged kids started typing into the computers close to their individual desks before putting on their special, custom-made space suits on. They grinned at each other before climbing into the small entry ways leading into the launch pod spacecraft.

"Here we go," One boy stated, strapping himself into his seat while the others did the same.

"Just do not forget our objective!" Another of the boy's voices called out to the two others, stern and authoritative.

 _He quietly exited the room, looking up and down the hallway. It was unusually quiet,and there weren't any lights on._

 _"That's odd," He thought to himself._

 _It wasn't like them to not be awake at this time, which would be the only explanation he could think of as to why it was so dark and gloomy in the house._

 _Not a noise could be heard; not even the familiar aroma of coffee in the air was present. The boy crept down the hall and opened up the last door on the left just before the staircase leading downstairs. He slowly opened the door and peered inside._

 _"Mom?...Dad?" No response._

 _He quickly flipped the switch inside the room and the overhead light revealed an empty, tidied up bed that showed no sign of having been used that night._

 _His father's hat wasn't hanging on the bedpost,and his mother's purse wasn't on the dresser._

 _Scrunching his eyebrows with confusion, the boy turned and rushed down the stairs and into the entry way to the kitchen._

 _"Mom? You in there?" He cried out as he ran towards the kitchen. He stopped when he saw the lights all turned off._

 _"What? Where are they?" He said aloud, growing worried._

 _He whirled around and raced towards the front door, wanting to see if his mother's car was still parked outside. This could not be happening!_

 _His heart raced as he anxiously reached for the door, flinging it open..._

Chiro quickly sat up in bed with a gasp, frantically looking around his room. Coming to his senses, he sighed miserably as he put his hand on his face. His heart was still racing from the dream.

"Oh no," He thought in despair. What was going on? Why was he having all these dreams lately?

To have sudden, recent dreams about his estranged friends was weird enough. But now he was dreaming about THEM?!

This was getting all too weird for Chiro, who hadn't even been thinking about his past for quite a while. He'd put all of this behind him, so why was it coming back to haunt him now, years later?

He hadn't bothered to tell the monkey team about the recent dreams he'd had about Odin, Max and Jaxon because he'd figured they would go away eventually. But since they haven't Chiro began to wonder if he should come forward about these bothersome dreams.

It might be strange to the team, though, if Chiro came out about his past now when he hasn't made an attempt to do it before. He'd most likely be plastered with a bunch of questions too. He did not want that!

But all Chiro wanted to do was put the past behind him. Ever since he first came to Shuggazoom, he's wanted to forget about everything that happened before.

But now, how could he possibly forget about it all when these memories wouldn't leave him alone?

Frustrated, Chiro got out of bed and quietly walked down the hall of the super robot. Why stay in bed? It wasn't like he was going to get any peaceful sleep tonight apparently. But he figured maybe some fresh air might do him some good.

Going out on the robot's shoulder, he sat on the edge, looking down at the city. There were a few lights on here and there down the streets but no sign of movement. It was quiet and peaceful and the wind was blowing very softly. Perfect!

Chiro closed his eyes and took in a slow, deep breath. He allowed his mind to let go of all the stressful thoughts and memories he didn't wish to hold onto. He let himself be in the moment, focusing on his breathing and senses to help himself relax as he went into his own meditative state.

"Chiro?"

Chiro opened his eyes only slightly, but didn't turn his head. He stayed in place as Antauri sat down beside him.

"Everything alright?"

Chiro glanced at him before returning his gaze to the city.

"Yeah, it's... it's all good," He replied, wondering if he should tell Antauri about his dreams.

Chiro saw Antauri look at him out of the corner of his eye.

"What's the matter?" Antauri asked softly, reading Chiro like a book.

Chiro sighed. He really did not want to have this conversation right now. But then, would he ever speak about it if he didn't now?

He hesitated for a moment before replying.

"I don't really know," He began. "I keep having these dreams about... about my past."

Antauri raised an eyebrow.

"Your past? You've never really spoken about your past with us."

"I know," Chiro responded. "That's because it's something that I didn't really like to think about, let alone talk about. But now it seems like I can't get it out of my mind."

He paused and Antauri remained silent, patiently waiting for Chiro to continue.

"Let's just say that not long before I came across the robot and you guys, I came from a place in my life that I was not happy with. So, I came here to Shuggazoom to try and better my life and I tried as hard as I could to forget everything that had happened before."

Antauri leaned in slightly, both curious and worried about what he'd hear. They'd all never really heard Chiro mention anything about his time before he'd met they'd all wondered about it, but they felt it best Chiro told them whenever the time was right for him. They weren't going to pry.

"It's alright, Chiro," Antauri said when the teen hesitated once more. "You don't have to tell me now if you're not ready for it."

"No, it's OK," Chiro responded, looking back up at his mentor. "I think I need to get this off my chest. It's about time I said something anyway."

"It was about four years ago. I had this group of friends who... well, at the time, I considered them the closest thing to a family that I'd ever had." Chiro said, looking out towards the city while deep in thought.

Antauri scrunched his eyebrows. "What of your parents?"

Antauri tensed slightly as he saw a pained look cross over Chiro's face at the mention of his parents. Clearly they were a touchy subject and Antauri wondered if he'd crossed the line.

"Chiro?" Antauri's voice was filled with concern.

Chiro turned to look at him, suddenly at a loss for does he start with them? How can he bring himself to speak once more about the ones who caused as much pain to him as they did?

"My parents were-" Chiro was cut off by the shrill sound of the robot's alarms going off. They looked back up at the robot and at each other with confusion before their heads whipped into the direction of the robot's neck, which opened up and revealed Sprx running out to them.

"You guys had better come quickly! The city's scanners are showing an unidentified spacecraft coming down fast!"

Chiro and Antauri exchanged surprised looks before they scrambled to their feet and raced behind Sprx back into the robot.

Gibson was already hard at work, plugging in coordinates and typing all sorts of numbers into the computer system in the command center. He was trying desperately to pinpoint where this craft was going to land.

Otto was getting guns and other backup weapons ready in case this was a hostile situation. Nova waited anxiously off to the side near Gibson, watching the visual of the approaching craft on the screen before them.

"What've we got, team?" Chiro asked as he and the others entered the room.

"The incoming spacecraft appears to be reducing speed the closer it gets to the city," Gibson responded, not taking his eyes off the screen as he continued his work. "Based on my calculations, it appears that this thing- and whatever, or whoever it's carrying- will likely be landing here!" He pointed to a location smack dab in the middle of Shuggazoom.

"It doesn't look like we have much longer until impact," Nova stated.

"Then we must go assess the situation quickly," Antauri said urgently. "We need to find out how much of a threat this thing is to the city."

"Let's go check it out!" Chiro exclaimed. "But be very careful, we have to be prepared for anything. Monkeys Mobilize!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Ch. 4:**

 **[The three teens POV]:**

The aircraft slowed as it neared the ground.

"Prepare landing gears," the dirty blonde haired teen instructed the nearby brown haired boy who nodded back in response.

He flipped a couple of the nearby colorful switches and turned a large black knob slightly to the left. A familiar whirring sound filled the room the boys were in as they all heard the gears below them shifting. They got themselves prepped and ready to go for when they landed.

"Max, Jaxon- get your equipment ready," the dirty blonde haired boy said with a slightly bored tone as he took off his seat's safety straps.

The two teens obediently did as they were told while the third boy leaned back in his seat with a sigh. Just another mission. Go in, get the job done, then head back to the station. Seems like it was all they ever did these days and it was starting to take its toll. What started off as fun and exciting was now getting dull and routine-like.

The blonde boy closed his eyes and thought back to the days on Pandera when they were younger and life was simpler. Back when visits from a certain little friend of theirs was something that they all looked forward to every day. But those days are long over.

After what had happened, what other choice did they have than this life? This was their reality these days and there was a job needing to be done that wasn't going to get itself done.

'It's time to let go of what was and focus on the here and now', He thought to himself.

 **[The monkey team's POV]:**

They panted hard as they raced to the estimated destination. Whatever this thing was, they had to figure it out fast. Who or what was onboard and what did they want? But most importantly, they had to figure out if the safety of the city's residents was in jeopardy.

After having not encountered a threat in a while, the team had let their guard down during what seemed to be their 'off time'. But Sprx smiled as he ran. Good thing he had been wise enough to start up his battle practices once again beforehand.

"I don't know about the others but I'm so ready for this,' He thought to himself as he mentally pumped himself up.

In fact, Sprx felt it was time for a fight to happen. They'd spent more than enough time being lazy, things were starting to get a bit boring. He was ready to see some long overdo action.

As they were nearing where Gibson speculated the aircraft would land, Antauri had a lot on his mind.

They had not had a single sign of danger happen for quite a while. It was very clever of this opponent- whoever he or she was- to wait until the team had completely lowered their guard.

He mentally cursed himself for not making sure the team was getting themselves ready in case another battle ensued. He let them all have their relaxation time, which they did deserve, but figured maybe he'd been too lenient with them. What was worse was that he even allowed himself to let his guard down when he should've known better.

As these thoughts raced through Antauri's mind, another important topic popped up. He reflected on his previous conversation with Chiro and what he might've been trying to say. He'd almost been able to finally hear about what happened with Chiro before he'd met them. Now he wasn't sure he'd get the chance to bring it up again with this seemingly new threat upon them.

But the more Antauri dwelled on what had been revealed, the more it ate him up inside. What happened between Chiro and his parents? Who were these friends that he was talking about? While thinking about that he suddenly thought of something else.

Chiro had mentioned that he came to Shuggazoom shortly before meeting them. The team had believed that he'd always been in Shuggazoom and had wandered into the outskirts of the city on just the right day to find them. So if he wasn't originally from the city then where was he from?

So many unanswered questions, but Antauri knew he had to push all of them to the back of his mind. Now was not the time. He had to clear his mind and focus all of his attention on whether or not this incoming aircraft was going to be a true danger.

The team approached the designated place in the middle of the city just as the pod touched down. They stayed low, creeping in the shadows of the nearest buildings as they grew closer to the aircraft.

"Otto, Sprx, Nova- cover the further side of the pod. Weapons ready!" Chiro instructed.

The three headed towards the right side of the pod, ready to activate their weapons. Chiro, Antauri and Gibson stayed to the pod's left side and did the same. They all froze and waited anxiously as the door's pod slowly opened up.

One figure climbed out of the pod, his brown hair falling over his eyes as he took in his surroundings. He froze, eyes widened out of both surprise and fear, as he discovered what appeared to be five aggressive, robotic monkey-like beings all holding weapons. Amongst them was a black haired boy who appeared to be the same age as the newcomer but was wearing a strange white outfit that also partially masked his face.

Just as the new arrival was taking in the faces before him, he saw the black haired boy's expression quickly change from aggression to confusion. In that same instance, the newcomer cried out as he jumped backward, pressing himself against the pod. He was not currently armed as they had not expected anyone to show any sort of threat to them. They had never arrived somewhere and been met with weapons so this was new.

"Odin!" The brown haired boy called out, looking towards the pod's entrance as another boy stepped out.

 **[Odin's Perspective]:**

Having heard his brother's first alarmed scream, Odin quickly dove for the bag near Jaxon's seat that contained their emergency weapons. He pulled out the first gun, charged it up with the push of a button and ran for the entryway just as he heard Max call out his name.

Odin charged out, teeth bared, as he aimed his gun in preparation to attack anyone trying to threaten them. Just because they had not been attacked before didn't mean that it couldn't happen and Odin had prepared himself for this scenario in case it were to occur.

"Hey hey hey! Do not shoot and I won't- I warn you once! We are not a threat to you!" Odin shouted, trying to hide his surprise as he saw that he was face to face with what looked like a human boy and some robotic monkey creatures, all with strange yet fascinatingly unique weapons.

 **[Chiro's Perspective]:**

Chiro gasped softly, his eyes slowly widening as he saw Max backed up against the aircraft he had stepped out of. Were his eyes deceiving him? This was impossible! Chiro straightened up out of his attack stance. The monkey team paused, weapons still activated, as they looked between the freaked out, unarmed Max and the now perplexed Chiro.

"Odin!" Chiro heard Max cry out.

Odin, eyes blazing, charged through the pod's entrance. He had his own weapon charged up and ready to fire. The monkey team tensed up once more at the sight of him.

"Hey hey hey! Don't shoot and I won't- I warn you once! We are not a threat to you!" Odin called out. Jaxon sheepishly peeked out from the aircraft's entrance behind Odin.

Chiro boldly took a step forward. "Odin? Max?"

Max and Odin's eyes locked onto Chiro as he spoke. Odin raised his eyebrow but didn't lower his gun. Thinking quickly, Chiro powered down and stood gazing at them.

The three boys and the monkey team all gawked at him in shock. Powering down in front of what could be an enemy? The team must've thought he'd lost his mind.

Odin, however, almost immediately lowered his gun, his eyes wide.

"Chiro?!" He said in astonishment.

"WHAT?" The monkey team said in unison out of sheer confusion as Max, Odin and Jaxon quickly approached Chiro, stopping suddenly within feet of the black haired teen. Chiro and the boys were all still and wide eyed as they looked each other up and down.

"No freaking way!" Jaxon spoke first, breaking the intense silence. A huge grin spread across his face.

"What are you doing here?"-

"Where have you been?"-

"It's been so long!"-

"Didn't think we'd ever see you again!"-

The boys started talking all at once as they crowded together in a massive and relieved hug. The monkey team immediately deactivated their weapons upon seeing this and looked at each other with the most confused expressions.

"Wait a minute. What?" Otto asked, looking from his simian comrads to Chiro and the other boys who all looked thrilled to be together.

"Am I missing something here?!" Sprx asked expectantly, looking between his teammates as if they had the answers.

"Well, I certainly don't know how but it looks like Chiro and these newcomers are well-aquainted with one another," Gibson stated. "I suggest we find out more." And with that, Gibson was the first to start walking over towards the teens.

"How on Shuggazoom could the kid know these weird-looking space guys?" Sprx asked as he and Nova followed after Gibson.

"You got me," Nova replied with a shrug. "It's beginning to look like there's a lot we have yet to find out about him."

Otto walked closely behind the pair, his eyes full of complete curiosity. Antauri followed a little more slowly, observing the group of teen boys as they all smiled, laughed and chatted with each other. He was the warm smile on Chiro's face. Was this the group of friends Chiro was starting to tell Antauri about before? It seemed a little odd that they would just appear out of the blue like this.

Chiro noticed the monkeys standing just outside the circle he and the three boys had formed. He turned and grinned excitedly at them.

"Guys, I want you to meet some old friends of mine."

"Whoa, you guys are so cool!" Max exclaimed, apparently having lost all of the initial fear he'd had of them. He bend down slightly to be more eye level with the monkeys. "Your weapons are sick!"

The monkeys glanced at each other with raised eyebrows at Max's strange choice of words.

"Um, thank you?" Otto replied quietly.

"Team, this is Odin, Jaxon and Max." Chiro said, gesturing to each boy as he stated their names. Each of the three teens gave a small wave when their names were called.

"Hello," Gibson responded with an acknowledging nod.

"And these guys are the Hyperforce, the protectors of Shuggazoom!" Chiro said to his three friends.

"The Hyperforce, huh? Cool name. Pleased to meet you all. Any friends of Chiro's are friends of ours," Odin said, smiling warmly at the monkeys.

The monkey team gave friendly smiles back but their eyes held an almost hesistant look that the three new arrivals did not pick up on. The monkeys, still smiling, shifted their gazes over to Chiro. The boy realized from the looks in their eyes that he definitely had some explaining to do. Great! But now might not be the best time for all that.

Clearing his throat, he turned back to his long lost friends.

"So, what're you guys doing here?"

Odin blinked, giving a brief glance to his brother and cousin before responding. That glance, though seen as minor to everyone else, did not escape the attention of a certain silver monkey who stood silently behind his fellow teammates.

"Oh we've just been traveling to different planets lately," Odin stated with a small smile. "After we left Pandera our family ended up staying on a distant planet called Salene. Soon after arriving, our parents became much more distant from us with the work that they were doing so we ended up finding some free time to go out and explore other planets. We've been to so many awesome places already. We spotted Shuggazoom and thought we'd stop and see what this place has got."

There were so many questions Chiro wanted to ask them. So many things he wanted to tell them. They were all pent up in his head just waiting to be blurted out. But here in front of the team was probably not a good idea. Too many questions would be raised with not enough answers to give. He knew he would have time later to have a private discussion with the boys, but for now he was just going to have to deal with small talk until he had a better time.

He's not one to share much about his past as it is, but now that his old friends are here there is no more hiding from it all. He has got to come clean about everything to both his former friends and his current teammates. His felt his stomach drop but knew it was what he had to do.

"Well...it's great to see you guys again," Was all Chiro could manage to say despite his swirling thoughts.

Chiro saw a look in Odin's eyes as he looked back at Chiro. Although all three of the boys were Chiro's best friends way back when, Odin knew Chiro's ways and actions the most. He could tell something was eating at Chiro but was also wise enough to put it off for now.

"You too! Never would've thought we'd run into you here of all places," Jaxon stated.

Chiro chuckled. "So, are you guys needing a place to stay for the night?"

The monkey team looked anxiously at Chiro, mentally urging him to not let them in at the robot. He gave a brief knowing glance back to them before looking back at Odin. He knew it wouldn't be the best idea to take them to the robot at this time but he also wanted to make sure his friends had a safe place to stay.

"Oh we've already got a place," Odin replied, smiling gratefully. "Thank you though."

Chiro nodded, not knowing what to say now. He felt like he was now at a loss for words once more like he was in his conversation with Antauri earlier.

'What's up with the team?' Chiro thought to himself. He understood that they didn't really understand what was going on but they could at least make a little more of an effort to be friendly. They were pretty much just standing around like a bunch of statues. Chiro wondered if they might be making his old friends feel unwelcome. Maybe it was time to head of.

"Well, we should probably get settled in for the evening." Max said kind of awkwardly, wanting to break the brief silence. They still weren't over the initial shock of seeing Chiro again after all this time and now the boys needed some time to collect their thoughts and figure out their next course of action. What would this mean for them now with Chiro being here?

"Would you care to stay with us for the night, Chiro?" Jaxon asked hopefully, picking up his nearby bag of equipment. He knew this would give them the opportunity they desperately needed to talk to each other about everything that happened before.

Antauri, hanging out in the back, cleared his throat. Chiro was not out of the woods with them.

Odin looked over at Antauri with an unreadable expression.

"Um," Chiro started, glancing back at the silver monkey before returning his attention to Max. "No, that's alright. I've got some stuff to take care of back at home anyway. Thank you for the offer though. How about tomorrow morning we meet up right here and I'll give you an official tour of the city?" He said with an enthusiastic wink.

"Sounds great!" Odin responded with a heartfelt grin.

Jaxon managed his own smile too. He felt just a little apprehensive about the monkeys. It didn't seem like they were as welcoming as they were trying to appear to be. Although the entirety of Chiro's relationship with the monkeys was not made quite clear, it seemed as though Chiro's words and actions were greatly influenced by them and they haven't even spoken much. Jaxon wondered if these robotic monkeys might pose a potential problem for them.

"Alright, I'll be here at 9:00 am. See you guys tomorrow!" Chiro said, turning from the trio of boys and starting back towards the buildings into the direction of the super robot.

"It was nice to meet you guys," Nova turned and said politely as she and the other monkeys followed after Chiro. With as much awkwardness as the rest of her teammates were showing, she may as well try to be the friendly one.

"You too!" Odin replied, giving a wave and a little smile.

As soon as they were out of sight, Odin frowned, turning to Max and Jaxon. Their faces reflected worry.

"Well," Odin said bluntly. "This complicates things..."

Chiro kept his eyes forward as the monkeys caught up to him and fell in step beside him.

"So? Would you mind telling us how you know those guys, kid?" Sprx asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Thought they weren't the prying type," Chiro softly muttered to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing. They were some friends that I had in my hometown while I was growing up." Chiro responded, still keeping his eyes forward.

"So you are not originally from Shuggazoom?" Otto asked.

"Nope. I came to Shuggazoom shortly before meeting you guys," Chiro said. "That place that Odin mentioned- Pandera? That's where I'm from. That also happens to be where all my problems originated."

The monkeys listened in, preparing to hear the backstory they'd all been waiting for.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter! Got a little bit of Chiro's background revealed in this little clip, there'll be more details added in the following chapters. I just wanted to get the main idea thrown out there but there'll be more stuff as the story goes on. Enjoy!**

 **Ch. 5**

Chiro took a slow and unsteady deep breath. It wasn't that he didn't want his friends to know more about him, but he'd spent all of his time with them believing that he had been able to completely put his past behind him.

Yet Chiro was only kidding himself if he thought that the monkeys weren't even remotely curious about where he'd come from and what life had been like for him before. He had an inkling that they had always wanted to know more. But they had always respected his privacy enough to leave the topic alone up until now.

But since they had witnessed what just happened, Chiro knew he owed it to them to try and tell them at least a little more about his past.

"The four of us were originally from Pandera and then we sort of split up," Chiro began. "We met when we were all about seven or eight years old. At that time, I wasn't nearly as bold, outgoing and fun as I am now." He said with a laugh. The others chuckled at this.

"I find that a bit hard to believe," Nova joked as well.

Chiro laughed softly. "No it's true. I was a lot more careful, maybe a little uptight, and I didn't really open up to anyone. I kept to myself more than anything up until I'd met the guys."

"So how exactly did you meet them?" Gibson asked.

"I was sitting at home one afternoon, playing the newest video game my parents had given me- they seemed to give me a ton of them as a way to keep me occupied and out of their way. But man Iwas SO excited to play that one- ShadowsRealms it was called- because of all the hype made about it back then.

"I was about halfway through the game when the console just randonly stopped working. I went to tell my mom about it and she just shooed me away because she was far too busy to deal with my little problems." He said that last part with a slight hint of disdain. The monkeys looked at him speculatively while he continued.

"Not having anything else to do I suddenly thought about the nearby park I'd seen while riding my bike a couple times around the house. So I wandered down there just to check it out. There, I saw three boys who looked about my age playing a game of frisbee and I didn't think much of it at first. But after seeing how much fun they were having and how much fun I wasn't having, I decided to go introduce myself and see if I could play.

"After that day, we hung out pretty much all the time after all of our parents went away to work. They kinda helped me come out of my reserved, quiet, awkward shell." Chiro gave a small smile as he reflected on the trio.

"They helped me become a better person than who I was before I'd met them."

Nova looked ahead as she walked, then she smiled inwardly.

"They mean a lot to you, huh?"

Chiro looked down at her and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, they do."

"How'd you guys get separated?" Otto asked curiously.

"So, Odin and Max are brothers and Jaxon is their cousin," Chiro explained. "Jaxon and his mother were staying with Odin and Max's family and one day they all just up and moved. No warning. I went over to their house one morning after my parents had left for work and the guys all met with me and told me that they were leaving.

"Their family didn't tell them where they were going to go so they couldn't really tell me anything. All they were told was that they just couldn't stay in Pandera any longer." Chiro shrugged .

"That's quite odd," Gibson stated, raising an eyebrow. "How well did you know their family? Did they seem distressed at all about something to you?"

Chiro looked thoughful for a second before slowly shaking his head.

"I didn't know them too well. They were away a lot for work like my parents were so the guys were often left alone also. I'd only met their parents a couple of times and they seemed nice enough. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary with them."

"Well, maybe tomorrow you can get some more information out of them," Sprx said as they got to the super robot.

"My thoughts exactly!" Chiro replied, about to head inside.

"I hesitate to ask this, Chiro," Antauri finally spoke, but softly. Chiro turned to look at him. "But I am willing to bet that this is on all of our minds. What did happen to your parents? How is it you came to be here, away from them?"

The monkeys all looked at Chiro as he hesitated for a second while still looking back at Antauri. The teen bit his lower lip anxiously.

He looked down at the ground momentarily and then he closed his eyes as he found his next words.

"I don't know what happened to them."

The monkeys exchanged confused expressions.

"They, too, up and left one day," Chiro said as he looked back up at them. "It was actually two days after my friends left. I was around twelve then. There was no warning. Usually they'd come home late at night after I'd fallen asleep. Then... I woke up and they were nowhere to be found. After that I sort of wandered around and then found my way to Shuggazoom..."

The team was shocked. Antauri, eyes widened, spoke up first.

"Chiro, I - I'm so sorry to hear that. I shouldn't have even brought it-"

Chiro shook his head. "No, I... don't worry about it, Antauri. Look, guys, the thing is, I tried to put the past behind me the second I came to the city. I came here to get away from all of... that! I do admit that with the guys showing up here it's a bit hard to avoid, but this is all a lot to process right now. So would you mind if we don't play 21 Questions tonight? Could we save some more storyteling for another night?" Chiro asked in exhaustion.

The time would eventually come when Chiro could feel more open to telling them more but his head was spinning and all he wanted to do was get some rest until he could collect his thoughts properly. The monkeys all nodded in agreement, their faces reflecting both worry and sympathy.

"Of course," Antauri replied.

"Thanks." Chiro replied in relief and turned to walk inside. The monkeys followed silently behind, their minds also spinning with what all they'd just heard. Now they really wanted to know more, but Chiro was right. Now was not the right time to plaster him with more questions. That'd be insensitive.

The whole truth would come out sooner or later but for now they needed to let it go until Chiro felt like he could tell them more. Besides, he'd just shared some of his most private secrets with them. That right there says a lot for someone who hasn't exactly said much about himself to them before.

"Poor kid," Sprx stated quietly, glancing over to see Chiro leaving the room before turning back. "Now I can see why he didn't bother to tell us anything about himself."

"Yeah, with losing his friends AND his family there's not exactly a whole lot of good things he'd want to share," Nova replied.

"Well at least he's now got one of those things back," Sprx said. "Now he'll be able to find out more about what happened with his childhood friends and maybe he can be able to move on from all of this once they leave."

"You can't fully move on when you don't have all the answers, Sprx," Gibson chimed in. "Sure he may learn of what happened with his friends but he may never get to know what happened with his parents. There'll never be closure for him in that aspect."

Sprx placed his hand under his chin thoughtfully.

"What if... what if we tried to locate his parents?"

"Are you crazy?!" Nova asked. "How do you suppose we go about doing that?"

"Well, we could figure out where the kid's former planet was-"

"Ok, and when you find this Pandera planet, how're you supposed to locate the exact coordinates of his previous address?" Gibson asked, growing slightly annoyed.

"If his parents were reported missing where he came from, it shouldn't be too hard to find the records of the incident and maybe find a few people who may have known more of what happened during the time," Sprx replied to Gibson, crossing his arms.

"Then we'd start from there. Find out where Chiro's parents worked, where they might've been when they weren't at work and maybe we could find a clue as to where they could've gone. We could help the kid out a bit. I bet there's a thing or two that the local authorities overlooked that we could easily pick up on." Sprx finished.

"This has got to be one of your most absurd ideas, Sprx!" Gibson said to the red monkey.

Nova looked down at the floor. "Do you suppose there's a chance his parents didn't just disappear?" She asked before Sprx could retaliate.

The others looked at her.

She looked back up from the floor of the robot. "Well, judging from Chiro's responses when talking about his parents, I sensed from his tone that he and his parents seemed to have a somewhat strained relationship. Since he said that they disappeared, I- I couldn't help but wonder,- as awful as this sounds- if maybe they just left him behind."

"Could they really have abandoned him?" Otto asked sadly.

The monkeys all went quiet as they pondered that possibility. As unlikely as that could've been, it wasn't entirely impossible as well. If Chiro exhausted every effort to try and locate them, could they have just disappeared or did they simply take off and didn't want to be found?

"I sensed both a deep-rooted sadness and some hostility as well when he spoke of them," Antauri said, his head bowed down and his eyes closed.

"As much as I admire Sprx's wanting to help Chiro gain closure, I'm afraid I must strongly oppose carrying out this plan. At least for now."

The monkeys looked at him curiously.

"It could be possible that this might do more harm than good for him. If Chiro were to discover that his parents did, indeed, leave him, that would only crush him. In this situation, knowing could be worse than not knowing."

The monkeys all exchanged glances, grasping the truth in Antauri's words.

"We need to find out more," Antauri continued. "Chiro may soon share more information with us that we could be able to use if we do ultimately decide to carry out this plan. But we must exercise caution with whatever we do. If we find out more on his parents, we'll have to be wary about the information we reveal to him.

"Find out where Pandera is for now but do no further investigating. Chiro does not need to know about this conversation. But for now, I say we put this idea on hold until I give the word to carry on with it."

Nodding, the monkeys split up, ready to head to their separate rooms.

"Isn't it weird, though, how those guys just seemed to come out of nowhere?" Otto slightly whispered, coming up beside Antauri who was just starting to think about those boys and their sudden appearance.

"Indeed, Otto," Antauri replied grimly. "I sensed earlier that something doesn't seem right about this. This Odin boy appeared to be hiding something. We need to find out just what exactly."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone, sorry about the wait. Been extremely busy lately and dealt with a bit of writer's block. But anyways, this chapter gives us a chance to look more into what Chiro's relationships with the boys are like and their bonds as well as looking a little more into Chiro's past. Please excuse the long intro in this one, it just gives some more background info but I hope it wasn't too terribly long. You can expect more updates soon and some more action shortly. Here's Chapter 6!**

 **Ch 6:**

 _"This is it..."_

 _He stood in the doorway, hand placed hesitantly on the doorknob as he sighed. He took one last look behind him into the darkened, empty hallway. This house, which had been left abandoned for many years after its previous owners passed away, had served as his temporary shelter. Up until now, that is._

 _After his parents vanished -or had they just left him?- it didn't take long for the authorities to come to his house to take him with them. A child living alone with no sort of caretaker? Like that was going to happen. So he, knowing he wouldn't be able to stay in his home any longer, he packed up and fled. There was no way he was going to be placed into a foster home. There was also no way he was going to an orphanage._

 _If there was anything his time without his parents had taught him, it was that he was quite capable of taking care of himself. He had managed all the times that they had left him alone at the house, and he was managing during this time that he was completely alone. Besides all the times he'd spent in the company of Max, Odin and Jaxon, of course. He missed them like crazy right now- they'd be so much help to have at this time. But they were gone, and there was no way to find them. Just like there was no way to find his parents._

 _He quickly changed his train of thoughts. What he was about to do was going to be so exciting- he hoped. Yet it was also going to be a bit scary. He was truly going to be all alone. Perhaps this would turn out to be a great adventure for him. Besides, he'd much rather live on his own anyway. After all, he did love excitment and adventure. He grew to be more adventurous after being with the boys and after they'd introduced him to the greatest heroes he'd ever known- The Sun Riders!_

 _The place he had chosen a couple months ago wasn't too far from his home but it was the best hiding place he could find for the time being. Unfortunately, some of the nearest neighbors had spotted him coming in and out of the building. If they'd been the house's neighbors long enough, they'd know this house to be abandoned. They might reveal to the police that a young boy had been seen there if the officers were to come around asking questions like they'd done in the nearby area. But since a couple months have passed since he left home, the police are most likely not putting him at the top of their priorities right now._

 _"Alright, Chiro," the boy quietly whispered to himself. He tried to sound braver than he actually felt. "Time to say goodbye to the only home you've ever known!" He sighed heavily, shutting his big blue eyes tightly as he found his courage. He slung his only bag of belongings over his shoulder and stepped outside, shutting the front door behind him._

 _He made his way down to the nearest shuttle station, trying to stay as hidden as he could. Tired of trying to stay hidden from the people here, he longed to find a place where he wouldn't have to try and hide- where he could really be freed of his past and of this place where all of this negativity and sadness was wearing him down each day._

 _The shuttles here took people all around the nearby galaxies. His father had often rode on one himself while Chiro was about six years old. He'd had a different job then- Chiro couldn't quite remember what that job was compared to the 'governmental' job he'd had when he disappeared- and Chiro and his mother would often stand in the station to watch him leave. That was before everything changed._

 _What exactly happened Chiro did not know. All he could remember was that he used to look into his mother's eyes and see nothing but pure love reflected back. Then, shortly after his father had returned from one of his trips, he'd gaze into her eyes and see some distant, far-off look in her stare. As if she was almost never there with him mentally, but was constantly thinking of something else. Whatever the case was, both parents had ultimately spent less time with him and were keeping themselves even busier than before with the apparent new jobs that they had been assigned by government officials._

 _So, Chiro waited in line at the station for the next shuttle. The station was busy that day, people were saying goodbye to their loved ones and friends who were all leaving for who knows where. Chiro spotted a little blonde girl nearby who was standing beside her mother as she tearfully waved to her father as he, too, waited for the shuttle's arrival. Chiro was on the verge of thinking about his own parents just then when he lightly shook his head, clearing his mind._

 _He turned his head to see the ginormous royal blue shuttle zooming into the station, slowing down until it carefully drifted to a stop right in front of Chiro and the other passengers. As its doors slowly opened up, Chiro said one last goodbye to his homeworld mentally before he took in a deep breath and stepped up into the shuttle. Where he was going to end up, he didn't know._

 _All he knew was that he wanted to put as much distance between Pandera -and all these bad memories- and himself as he could. He rode that shuttle until they came to a stop in a strange place called Shuggazoom. As they unloaded passengers and prepared to take off once more, Chiro felt something stir within him. It was an odd feeling but somehow, something deep down told him that Shuggazoom was the place to get off at._

 _Following his gut, Chiro stepped off the shuttle and entered the city. What awaited him here he had no idea, but it just seemed right to him..._

Odin spotted Chiro coming in the distance.

He grinned. "Hey, guys!" He called over his shoulder. Chiro approached Odin as Jaxon and Max caught sight of them and started to hurry over.

Chiro smiled softly at Odin. "You really have no idea how happy I am to see you guys again."

Odin grinned back. "Trust me, we feel the exact same way. It's been way too long."

"'Sup, Chiro?" Jaxon exclaimed as he and Max joined them.

"Hey guys! Hoped you wouldn't mind that I came a little early," Chiro chuckled, sheepishly scratching the back of his head with one hand.

"Nah. You're only an hour early, no biggy" Max replied with a wink.

"You're just in time to join us to go grab a bite to eat, though," Jaxon said.

"Sounds good!" Chiro replied enthusiastically.

Chiro glanced over and saw the seemingly high-tech 'camp' that the three teens had set up for themselves. Their tent was metalic, very shiny and had a small antenae at the very top.

Chiro blinked in astonishment. How in the world did they have that sort of technology with them? Where'd it come from? And where was the pod that they had arrived in?

Odin followed Chiro's gaze to their 'tent' and then chuckled knowingly. He pulled out a small remote from his pocket and clicked a couple buttons. Then the tent suddenly started... beeping?

All of the boys watched as the tent started to move, its legs and shape shifting until it took the form of the launch pod that they were originally in.

Chiro gasped. "Whoa! That is so cool!"

The others laughed at his reaction.

"That's exactly what Max said when we all first saw it, too," Jaxon stated, pointing a thumb towards his cousin. Max tried, but failed, to conceal a smile as he rolled his eyes.

"Where'd you get that?" Chiro inquired.

Odin shrugged nonchalantly. "It was a gift. We received it at one of the planets we stopped at."

"Neat! Otto would so love to check that out," Chiro responded.

"Otto?" Max asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

Chiro turned to him. "One of the monkeys that was with me last night. He's the green one- the mechanic of the group. Something like this would totally intrigue him."

"Oh, yeah, we've been meaning to ask you about that," Odin said. "Who did you say those monkeys were again? And how do you know them?"

"Better yet, how did you wind up in Shuggazoom of all places anyway, Chiro?" Jaxon chimed in.

Chiro laughed, understanding their confusion. "Sorry, I guess I should explain it a little better. The monkeys are the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce and they are Shuggazoom's protectors. I joined up with them a couple years ago and... I'm also their leader."

The boys' faces all lit up as their eyes widened. "Whoa! No way!"

"Yes way!" Chiro replied with a snicker.

"But how? How'd you come across them?" Max asked.

Chiro took a deep breath. "Man, I've got a lot to tell you guys..."

Chiro explained more to them as they made their way further into town, which didn't seem to be too busy that day. He explained how he'd found the team, told them about Skeleton King (and how they defeated him) and their adventures through the galaxies. He even tried to explain more about the power primate but, judging from the boys' faces as they listened, they found that topic a bit harder to wrap their heads around.

"That's amazing, Chiro!" Jaxon exclaimed as they strolled through the city. "Sounds like you've had a lot of great times, and your friends sound awesome."

Chiro smiled back at him. "They are pretty awesome! I even consider them more than friends now- they're pretty much like family to me."

"Wait, you never actually told us why you left Pandera though," Max said, coming up beside Chiro with a raised eyebrow.

Chiro looked down, frowning. He slowed to a stop and the others turned towards him curiously.

For a moment, Chiro debated lying about having just left home because he wanted to go off on his own. Maybe he should say that he simply ran away from home- but that would only bring up a lot more questions. Of course, running away wasn't completely a lie... but it wasn't the full truth.

But after looking up at the eager eyes of his friends, he knew he couldn't bring himself to lie to them. Why go through all that trouble anyway? Knowing them, they would find out the truth sooner or later. So he rolled his eyes with a deep breath and a sigh.

"I left home because... because my parents disappeared. I don't know much, the authorities weren't a whole lot of help and well... I needed a place to go where I could just start over."

He finished and looked back at their now gawking expressions.

"What?" Was their only response.

Chiro shrugged, wanting the topic to be dropped already. A small part of him truly did want to find his parents once again but he figured that there was no way to do so. There had been no way to track them down before; why would there be a way to do it now, years later?

"Chiro, I - I'm so sorry to hear that," Odin said with a devastated, sympathetic look. He looked like he wanted to say more, but Chiro raised a hand to stop him.

"It's ok. Nothing can be done about it now so I'd just rather not continue with this subject. Like I said, Shuggazoom is a new start for me- a way for me to be able to stop thinking about Pandera. So if we could please move on to something else, I'd really appreciate it."

The boys exchanged looks. Odin cleared his throat.

"Ok, Chiro. Now tell us, are there any fun things to do around here?" He asked with a sly smile on his face.

Chiro returned a smile. "There may be a few things..."

There were a few new, roller-coaster styled rides that had been put in town recently down by the local arcade. The boys spent hours enjoying the rides, playing games in the arcade and... getting burgers from Gakslapper's!

"This... is the best burger I've ever had!" Jaxon stated, eyes widened, as he viciously tore into his monster of a burger. The others laughed as they watched him.

"Oh yeah! I take back what I originally said about this city," Max said happily. "It's definitely not as small and plain as I thought!"

Chiro chuckled. "Glad you guys like it here!"

They went back to the arcade after their lunch, taking turns competing against each other on the car racing games. Odin played against Max and won; Chiro played against Jaxon and lost a round before winning a round. Then Chiro got to compete against Odin.

"I bet a dollar on Odin," Max exclaimed, a playful smirk on his face.

"Ha! You're on!" Jaxon replied with a grin. They crowded around the two other boys who quickly started their race. Max and Jaxon cheered them on as both boys struggled to get to first place.

"Think I've got you this time, champ!" Odin stated with pride, not taking his eyes off the game.

"Think again, chump!" Chiro shouted as his avatar quickly pulled ahead of Odin's.

"Gettin' a little cocky, aren't ya?" Odin chuckled, bringing his avatar behind Chiro's.

"I could say the same thing to you, buddy!" Chiro laughed as well.

Their characters soon came up to a sharp turn.

"Hey, Jaxon, think I've got this?" Chiro called out without turning.

"Oh I know you've got this!" Jaxon replied confidently.

Chuckling, Chiro waited maybe a couple seconds too late to make his character turn the corner. It didn't turn out so well as his car bashed into the nearby barricade.

"Aw shoot! No!" Chiro cried out as Odin laughed victoriously, his car rushing past Chiro's and zooming down to the finish line. Chiro started up once again, trying to chase Odin down.

It was too late. Odin's car raced through the finish line and he threw a fist in the air. "Woo hoo!"

"Dang it!" Chiro cried, pounding his fist onto the side of the game. This made the arcade owner briefly look up from his paperwork at his desk.

"Oh don't you go being a sore loser," Odin replied with a brief laugh as Jaxon reluctantly handed a dollar bill to Max behind him.

"Whatever, that game's obviously rigged," Chiro said jokingly. "I'll get you next time!"

"I'm sure you will," Odin said.

"Oh hey, if you guys are interested, they've got a full day of paintball going on in the lot by the arcade tomorrow. Would you want to do that?" Chiro asked.

"Heck yeah!" They replied with big smiles.

"I thought you might." Chiro responded, smiling warmly back. It was just like old times. They were alway ready to do exciting things and it looks like that much hasn't changed about them.

As they were walking out of the arcade and to the place where Chiro claimed they had holographic ice cream, Odin couldn't help but linger on what Chiro had said about his parents. They had no idea that Chiro's parents might've vanished, that they might've shared a similar fate that Odin's own parents had met. For they, too, had vanished not long after the family had moved from Pandera. He wanted so much to reach out to Chiro about it, to tell him that he understood what the teen was feeling.

But what could he possibly reveal to Chiro without jeopardizing their whole mission?!


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well! Finally getting around to posting another chapter. Please feel free to let me know what you think of this chapter, previous, and upcoming ones- if it all looks good or where you think I may use some improvement-, definitely looking for some good, old constructive criticism and anything would help in me writing to the best of my ability :)**

 **Shoutout to Chazno-02 for the usage of Chiro's parents' names= Zoey and Ace. I do not own the names or characters of Zoey and Ace - Chazno does. Thank you Chaz! Everyone should go to Chazno's page and check out the stories there, pretty good ;)**

 **Alrighty then, on to the story... I give you Ch. 7... Sorry, this one is a LOT shorter than all my other chapters. But I had some other things that were added onto this chapter that I just did not feel was ready to publish yet and I feel that this portion is. I have somewhat of an idea for what I do want to put in after this scene so I will probably have it uploaded in just a few days so bear with me ;)**

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"Hey, Chiro!" Odin called out as the black haired teen started to head out of town.

The boy stopped and looked back.

"Bring those monkey friends of yours back here. We want a do-over with them!"

Chiro smiled and called back. "Will do!"

The boys waved at each other and soon enough Chiro was out of sight.

Odin turned back to the others, all of them suddenly speechless. Many thoughts were now swirling in their minds and they had no idea what their next move was going to be.

"O?" Jaxon asked quietly.

Odin sighed. "Is nobody else curious as to why in the hell Chiro's parents also disappeared? And why the hell didn't Trace say anything about them?" His voice low.

Jaxon and Max exchanged brief, doubtful looks.

"Maybe Trace didn't know, man," Max answered with a shrug. "He probably doesn't know about every single person who's involved with this group or who they're all connected with. Zoey and Ace must've went missing around the same time our parents did. Trace and the others took long enough to connect with us, so I doubt they found out about everyone that went missing and their connections. Just like how they obviously hadn't found Chiro."

Odin averted his annoyed gaze from Max, choosing instead to look down at the ground as he continued to ponder.

"They told me they knew about everyone," Odin whispered through gritted teeth, feeling as though something was very wrong.

Jaxon rolled his eyes at his cousin, clearly irritated.

"Come on, dude. Do you really think he would've hidden this from us if he had, in fact, known? Because I highly doubt it. You're still doubting Trace after what he's done for us?"

"You're not just slightly curious that maybe he sent us here to throw us off from our assignment?" Odin blurted out. "We had everything planned out perfectly and now all this gets thrown at us?"

He rubbed his chin with his hand, contemplating. "He may have known beforehand that Shuggazoom had a group of protectors and that once we got here we might have trouble getting our job done. Think that's it?!"

"Whoa! Calm down, Odin!" Max stated, holding his hands up to try and calm his brother. "You're seriously losing it."

"Now why would he go and do that?" Jaxon asked with a raised eyebrow. "It very much would throw us off and he knows just as well as we do that we can't afford having anything distract us from finding our parents and the others."

"Yeah, but you remember our last mission don't you?" Odin started with a worried expression.

Jaxon held his tongue as he thought back to their previous mission on Planet Marza. Mistakes had been made, and although they successfully completed their mission, things became rocky between the boys and their 'trusty' colleague. Especially when SHE got involved. Jaxon shuddered just thinking about her. He could envision her fiery red hair and disapproving scowl looking down at them all now, scolding them for their misdeeds.

But this was not the time to dwell on that embarrassing mishap.

"He's not about to let us down again," Jaxon finally answered.

"This is our last chance to prove that we can help with their mission, Jax. If we screw this up, then what? I'm just still not completely sure we can trust Trace and what he says yet," Odin said. "I'm just freaking out. Something seems off about this. Maybe there isn't really a-"

"Look, Odin, I'm sure once we tell Trace what we've found out he will be just as shocked as we are. He also probably had no idea that this place has a bunch of mechanical chimps guarding it. Let's just talk to him about what we should do now. There is a Cube here, we are going to find it and you have to believe that... Maybe we should also see if it could be a good idea to involve Chiro in this." Max said, ending his rant with a more cheery, hopeful tone.

"I-I don't know if that's such a good idea," Jaxon responded, turning to look back at Max. "He's already got a good thing going here with this new crew of his. If we get him mixed in with all of this then it'll ruin things for him. Plus it could ruin things for US if he happens to spill the beans to those little monkeys of his on what our plan is. I don't think what we're about to do here will go over too well with them."

"Don't you think he should be a part of it, though?" Max asked him, his eyes pleading. "Like, I mean the whole scheme of things? I'm sure he wants to find his parents just as much as we want to find ours- and they are MOST LIKELY with ours out there. And if we could get Chiro onto our side in all this, maybe he could even persuade the monkeys onto our side."

Jaxon looked back at Odin, who met his gaze with uncertainty. Odin cleared his throat.

"We stick to the original plan for now," Odin commanded. "We'll just wait... and see what Trace says. All that matters is that we get our parents back, no matter what it takes or how we do it!"

His cousin nodded in solemn agreement. His brother remained still and silent for a moment before nodding as well.

"And what about the monkey squadron?" Max suddenly asked, partly joking as if to lighten the mood. "Do you really think they'll be a problem?"

"I don't know," Odin confirmed. "I guess we will see soon. If they show up tomorrow, which they very well may not, then it could give us a chance to really see what we're up against here. They're the protectors of the city- we have to be very careful to not underestimate them. If we have any chance of finding that Cube, we have to keep them off of our backs."

"Just don't forget what's been promised to us once we do complete 'Operation Shuggazoom'," Jaxon added with an excited, anticipating smile on his face as he air quoted the last two words.

The other two returned his smile as though they had just received the best news in the entire galaxy.

"Who could forget that?" Odin responded with a newly-found confident grin.


	8. Chapter 8

Her heavy breathing filled the otherwise quiet training room.

She huffed, hands on her knees as she steadied her breathing,

Her punching bag laid on the ground, having been beaten around for the last hour before it finally came loose.

Nova took this opportunity to finally give herself a break. She'd wanted to do more hand-to-hand combat practice and everyone else was busy with duties so she practiced her moves on the poor, unfortunate bag for starters instead.

'Not as thrilling as fighting someone else, but I'll take this over nothing,' She thought to herself.

She'd wanted to move on to the harder, robotic weapon simulators after using the punching bag. Picking up the bag from the ground, she dusted it off and was about to put it back on it's chains.

"Would you like a hand?" Nova rolled her eyes, the faintest smile on her face at the sound of his smooth voice.

"Are you suggesting I'm not strong enough?" She asked in return, turning around with a smirk on her face.

Sprx leaned in the doorway, arms crossed as he gazed smugly at her.

"Did you get bored doing your chores?" Nova inquired half-joking, getting the bag in her hands situated and prepared for her next session.

"Nah," Sprx chuckled. "I suckered Otto into taking over the last of my duties for the day."

Nova gave him a disapproving look.

"Sprx."

He held up his hands defensively. "Hey, he was finished with all his stuff and he looked bored to me. Thought I'd give him something 'fun' to do and he jumped right on it."

Nova lightened up a little bit with a laugh. "That sounds like Otto. Always so enthusiastic. Well, would you care to join me for some more training?"

"Why not?" Sprx replied, approaching Nova and giving her a gentle kiss. "Not like I've got anything better to do." He smirked playfully.

Nova half scoffed and half laughed as she pushed Sprx away. "Oh, whatever!"

The two spent the next hour trying to best each other as they battled level after level against the weapon-wielding machines that shot and sliced at them.

They finally finished up and began walking out of the training room.

The couple walked into the command center to hear Otto excitedly whooping as he, Gibson and Antauri were chatting with Chiro.

"That sounds like fun!" Otto exclaimed.

"I suppose it would be nice to get out of my lab for one afternoon," Gibson added. "Especially since there's not a whole lot happening these days."

"What's going on?" Sprx asked with a raised eyebrow as he and Nova approached the group.

"We're going to go play paintball tomorrow!" Otto responded with much enthusiasm.

"Paintball?" Nova scrunched up her eyebrows. "What's that?"

Sprx turned to her. "You don't know paintball? It's a lot of fun! Well, it's more fun when you're the one shooting, not the one getting shot." He chuckled.

Nova looked at the others.

"It's kinda like that laser game we've played," Chiro added for her. "Only you shoot these balls of paint at your opponents while trying to keep yourself from getting eliminated."

"Count me in!" Sprx said, an excited gleam in his eyes as he turned towards Chiro.

"Me too!" Otto shouted, his hand shooting up in the air.

"Ok, I'll try it out too," Nova said with a smile and a shrug.

Chiro looked over at the remaining, quiet two.

"Sooo?" He asked with an eager smile.

"There's a first time for everything," Antauri started with a smile. "I'll try it out."

Gibson paused a moment, glancing in uncertainty and surprise at the silver monkey before responding.

"What he said," Gibson pointed his thumb towards his older companion.

"Alright! This'll be great," Chiro replied.

The group continued to discuss the matter, more so between Chiro and Sprx as the two excitedly began to talk about making teams and how that would be established.

"Would we be playing against those friends of yours, Chiro?" Otto chimed in. "Or would we put one or two of them in one group and the other one in the second group?"

"I'm not sure," The kid replied. "We'll have to talk to them about that."

Antauri, listening in, sighed to himself. Although he still felt a little unsure about the new arrivals, he figured he should be more sensible and give those boys a chance. After all, they were - or are-, Chiro's friends and the boy was pretty good at reading people's characters. If Chiro felt that these boys were OK, then that was probably true.

Ending the discussion of tomorrow's events, Nova and Sprx walked towards the kitchen to start preparing dinner. Otto followed along behind them like an anxiously-awaiting hungry puppy.

Chiro walked over to Antauri.

"You think we should do a patrol round for the city before the end of the day?" He asked.

"Actually, yes," Antauri replied. "Gibson and I were discussing that matter earlier. We'll do a quick loop around the city and be back for dinner."

"Or I could go if you guys are wanting a break," Chiro offered.

"That's alright, we'll be back in no time."

"Are you sure?" Chiro asked, looking guilty. "I feel bad that I've been out all day and you guys have been doing everything here."

Antauri smiled kindly. "Don't worry about it, Chiro. You've been working hard as well and you, too, deserve a break. It's good that you were able to spend time with your friends. I'm sure you had a lot of catching up to do."

"Yeah, we really did." Chiro responded with a small smile. "It was a good, long talk."

"Glad to hear," Antauri said as Gibson approached them.

The two monkeys bid the kid a quick farewell before heading out to make their run.

They flew off the robot's shoulders, starting to go around the city.

"I'm surprised you jumped on-board like that about tomorrow," Gibson stated.

Antauri looked over at him but remained quiet.

"You were the one saying how weird you felt around those kids and now you're suddenly wanting to go and play paintball with them?"

"I've decided to give them another chance, is that so hard to believe? I may have been mistaken in feeling what I felt towards them and I will be able to know for sure when we meet with them tomorrow."

"You're hardly ever mistaken," Gibson pointed out. "But I suppose you're right. We'll know tomorrow." He looked ahead.

"Has Sprx located the whereabouts of Chiro's home planet?" Antauri asked.

"I believe so. He mentioned it earlier and I think he did. Do you believe we may be able to help find his parents?"

"Sprx had a point when he said that we might be able to find something there that the local police overlooked. Our technology is advanced enough, maybe we could find some sort of clue."

"And how do you propose we go about this without Chiro finding out?" Gibson asked curiously. "Or are we going to tell him that we plan on looking into this?"

"We'll figure that part out," Antauri replied without looking at Gibson.

The two continued flying silently, scanning the city for anything that seemed off.

Gibson's scanner began to beep, indicating that something was being detected over to the right. They both started in that direction until Antauri's scanner went off, showing that something to the left was also occurring. Exchanging looks, they each flew off in their scanners' directions to locate the problems.

Antauri's eyes scanned the city below with intensity, making sure not to miss a thing.

Movement from the corner of his eye got his attention. Snapping his head to the right, he saw a person dashing around a corner, a strange object in his grip. He turned the corner and was out of Antauri's sight before he could get a good look at the fleeing person.

He looked to his scanner and saw it going off, pointing in the same direction as the person was running.

Growling, Antauri flew after whoever it was. He quickly activated his communicator. "Gibson, come in."

"Here. What have you got, Antauri?"

"I'm in pursuit of who I believe caused my scanner to go off. The person took off running and I didn't get a close look. Where are you?"

"I'm near the arcade. My scanner is going mad but there is nothing here that I can find. This doesn't make sense."

"Stay where you are and keep searching. I'll be there as quickly as I can to help." Antauri continued his own way, trying to track down whoever was running.

He followed the dot on his scanner's screen and tracked it down to a close alleyway where there was a dead end. The dot suddenly stopped moving and Antauri smirked.

'Gotcha!' He thought to himself.

He approached the corner of the alleyway and was just about to face the source of his scanner's sporadic beeping when the dot on his screen quickly vanished.

He turned the corner to find himself gazing into an empty alley.

"What?" Was all Antauri could say as he stared wide-eyed. There was no way someone would have gotten out of there. He looked back at his scanner. No more beeps, no more dot.

He examined the alley walls, looking for a possible hidden exit that the person might've used. There was nothing.

'How is that possible?'


End file.
